South Asian | Kathmandu, Nepal
The Boston area is home to a large and growing Nepalese community and the Himalayan Heritage Cultural Academy is at its heart. Founded by master musicians to give Nepali traditional arts and music a formal presence in the community, the Academy is also home to the Himalayan Heritage Band – a group of virtuoso musicians and teachers dedicated to ensuring the continuation of their beloved traditional music.
One of the founders of the Himalayan Heritage Band is Shyam Nepali, who was born into one of the most prominent musical families of the centuries-old Gandharva musical caste in Nepal. Historically, the Gandharva earned their living as traveling musicians, composing songs that brought news to villagers throughout Nepal’s mountainous region. Other songs were inspired by the sounds of nature and the beauty of the rural landscape.
Shyam’s grandfather, Magar Gaire Nepali, and father, Ram Saran Nepali, are among the most accomplished and innovative musicians in the Gandharva tradition. They all play the sarangi, a bowed string instrument, carved out of a single log of wood. The sarangi is unique among most string instruments because the notes are sounded by touching the strings with the fingernails instead of the fingertips. The nails touch the sides of the strings, and since no pressure is required from the fingers, it allows great flexibility and agility in making expressive sounds such as sliding, and different types of complex ornamentation.
Through recordings made in the 1960s and 70s, the music of the Ganharva spread beyond Nepal but starting in the 1990s, interest in the music started to die down, and it is now endangered. Through the tireless work of committed musicians like Shyam and the other teachers at the Academy, students in both Nepal and Massachusetts are reviving the tradition.
The Himalayan Heritage Band features Shyam Nepali on sarangi (bowed string instrument), Sushil Gautam on murchunga (jaw harp) and madal (hand drum), Ranjan Budhathoki on bansuri (bamboo flute), and Raj Kapoor on madal. Kapoor will also perform the Lakhe Mask Dance, which is associated with Indra Jatra, a religious street festival that takes place each September in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley.